Help Planning Itinerary for Greek Trip

[msvca]

We are planning our first trip to Greece and looking for help in determining which would be the best itinerary for what we want to do.  We are interested in ancient Greece and archealogical sites, not so much beaches.  We will be spending about 7 days on our own either before or after our cruise to visit places that we will not see on the cruise.

 

Cruise 1                                                                       Cruise 2

   Athens                                                                          Athens

   At Sea                                                                           Santorini - 7:00am - 10:00pm

   Rhodes - 7:000am - 6:00pm                                      Ephesus - 9:00am - 9:00pm                    

   Ephesus - 8:00am - 7:00pm                                      Mykonos - 7:00am - 7:00pm     

   Mykonos - 7:00am - 7:00pm                                     Volos - 8:00am - 7:00pm

   Santorini - 7:00am - 10:00pm                                   Thessaloniki - 8:00am - 6:00pm

   Hydra - 8:00am - 6:00pm                                           At Sea          

   Athens                                                                          Athens

 

I am having a difficult time with Thessaloniki.  We want to visit the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, the White Tower, Museum of the Royal Tombs of Aigai, and the ruins of Vergina.  We are looking at a Celebrity cruise in 2025 and do not know what shore excursions will be offered then.  Would we be able to accomplish all that we want to do with a private tour at Thessaloniki or shore excursions if offered by Celebrity and we choose Cruise 2? Or do we need more time to see everything?

 

I was leaning towards Cruise 1 so we could visit Rhodes and then rent a car or take the train to Thessaloniki after our cruise for a couple of days.  But then maybe Cruise 2 makes more sense and we just skip Rhodes.  We are planning to visit Crete on our own after the cruise and spend a few days in Athens.

 

@cruisemom42 @Edinburger or anyyone else who can help which option makes the most sense for what we want to see?  Thank you for any guidance

[cruisemom42]

Looks like the itineraries are about the same except that one goes to Rhodes and Hydra, and the other to Volos and Thessaloniki.

 

If you have an interest in Alexander the Great, I’d make sure you get to Thessaloniki. With a private full day tour you can get to the sights you list. I would suggest that you leave out the White Tower (not ancient) and instead include the Arch of Galerius and the Rotonda (not far from the Archaeological museum). I also think you’d have time to see the small museum in Vergina as well as the site.

 

Rhodes has an Acropolis at Lindos as well as a very ruined one just above the walled town of Rhodes. A nice archaeological museum in the old hospital of the Knights. Most else is medieval.

 

Volos gives one the opportunity to visit the Greek Orthodox monasteries at Meteora, but no significant ancient sites.

 

Hydra, while charming, doesn’t have much to offer regarding Ancient Greek sites or history.

 

Feel free to ask more questions and also share what you’re thinking of doing before and/or after as it may help narrow down your choices.

 

[msvca]

@cruisemom42  Thank you for your thoughts.  We are definitely planning a visit to Thessaloniki and Vergina.  I just was not sure if we could do everything in the time the ship is docked or if it would be better to visit the area after our cruise.

 

As far as our plans for before/after our cruise we are planning to spend 2 or 3 days in Athens.  I am thinking that we might want to go to Delphi for a day.  Depending on flights or the ferry we would probably spend 1 or 2 nights on Crete.  I have not had a chance to look into what we might want to do on Crete yet except visit Knossos and the Heraklion Archealogical Museum.

 

We are not interested in visiting the monasteries so if we do the cruise with Volos we would probably just explore the city unless we find an interesting shore excusion.

 

Do you have any recommendations for the private full day tour around Thessaloniki and Vergina?

[marazul]

@msvca

The ferry from Piraeus to Heraklion is very long. It takes about 9.5 hours.  The flights are 50 minutes.  You would waste too much time on the ferry if you only have one or two days to spend in Crete. You are better off taking one of the many daily flights.  Check out the schedules in aegeanair.com.

 

Having said that, there are overnight ferries to Crete.  Not my cup of tea.  I would rather spend the time in Crete. 

[cruisemom42]

22 hours ago, msvca said:

Do you have any recommendations for the private full day tour around Thessaloniki and Vergina?

I hired a driver for the day through Get Tour Guide and arranged an itinerary in advance. I always do my own research in advance and did not expect the driver to share any detailed information about the sites. That said, he was conversant in English and we had interesting conversations about the area in general.

 

I’m traveling right now but will be home on Dec 11 if you need additional info. 

[msvca]

11 hours ago, marazul said:

@msvca

The ferry from Piraeus to Heraklion is very long. It takes about 9.5 hours.  The flights are 50 minutes.  You would waste too much time on the ferry if you only have one or two days to spend in Crete. You are better off taking one of the many daily flights.  Check out the schedules in aegeanair.com.

 

Having said that, there are overnight ferries to Crete.  Not my cup of tea.  I would rather spend the time in Crete. 

Thank you for the information regarding the ferry.  I will add the information on Aegean Air to my folder so I will have it handy.

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

I hired a driver for the day through Get Tour Guide and arranged an itinerary in advance. I always do my own research in advance and did not expect the driver to share any detailed information about the sites. That said, he was conversant in English and we had interesting conversations about the area in general.

 

I’m traveling right now but will be home on Dec 11 if you need additional info. 

Thank you for the information.  I will check it out.  Enjoy your trip.

[edinburgher]

On 12/4/2023 at 1:52 AM, msvca said:

We are not interested in visiting the monasteries so if we do the cruise with Volos we would probably just explore the city unless we find an interesting shore excusion.

The Meteora excursion will probably be  the #1 "interesting shore excursion" as they are one of, or possibly THE reason cruise ships call at Volos.  The monasteries and their setting are really quite unique and "one off". and this would be an opportunity for you. We visited inside two, but were told that the monks decide which monasteries will be open on which days, so you may not know which you will visit until the day itself.

 

Looking at online images and/or reviews might help you make a decision.

Edited December 16, 2023 by edinburgher

[bennybear]

I’ll throw in my two cents.  
 

Crete is huge and has many amazing sites.   Knossos is just one,  Phaistos,  is also an important one and then the  ancient Malia Palace.   There are many more.    Highly recommend you allow more time than a few days,  and fly into Heraklion.  There is a good museum there with some of the artifacts from Knossos.  
 

We very much enjoyed a private overnight excursion to Delphi and Meteora.   Hydra is nice but not really much in the way of sites. 

 

If you’ve been to Ephesus before, highly recommend Priene, Didyma and Miletus.
 

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by bennybear